Claudio Ballesteros , Contracting Officer

Claudio Ballesteros serves as a Contracting Officer for USAID/Afghanistan, responsible for managing the acquisition of professional and technical services critical to the agency’s development mission. He oversees the full lifecycle of contracts supporting governance strengthening, institutional capacity building, and humanitarian resilience initiatives across Afghanistan. His procurement activities center on expert-led technical assistance, program management support, and advisory services that align with USAID’s strategic priorities in education, health, and civil society empowerment. Ballesteros ensures compliance with federal acquisition regulations while advancing programmatic outcomes through transparent, competitive sourcing processes. His contractor relationships are primarily with professional services firms specializing in international development, public administration, and technical consulting. While no single vendor dominates his portfolio, he consistently engages firms with demonstrated expertise in Afghan context-specific challenges, including local and international consultants with field experience in governance reform, monitoring and evaluation, and institutional strengthening. His approach emphasizes performance-based contracting and results-driven deliverables, fostering long-term partnerships grounded in accountability and adaptive management. Ballesteros does not utilize socioeconomic set-asides, with 100% of his acquisitions conducted under full and open competition. This reflects a strategic focus on selecting the most qualified providers based on technical merit and contextual expertise, rather than socioeconomic criteria. While small business participation is not formally prioritized through set-asides, he maintains an open procurement environment that allows all eligible entities to compete on equal footing. His procurement focus is heavily concentrated in NAICS 541990 (All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services) and 541611 (Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services). He regularly acquires services related to policy analysis, program design, capacity building, and organizational development—domain areas requiring deep technical knowledge of Afghan institutions and development dynamics. His expertise lies in securing high-impact, non-commodity services that enable sustainable institutional change.